SC OKs release of documents cited in Sereno impeach rap

MANILA — The Supreme Court (SC) has approved the request of two cause-oriented groups for the release of documents cited in the impeachment complaint against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

During Tuesday’s session, only the document regarding the memorandum of Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo De Castro was not approved for release because the matter was still pending.

“That is being internally deliberated by the Court and, thus, cannot be released until the matter is resolved by the Court en banc,” high court’s Information Chief Atty. Theodore Te said at a press conference.

The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) and the Vanguard of the Philippine Constitution Inc. (VPCI) last week sent a two-page letter to the high court requesting for certified copies of documents to boost their complaint against the high court chief.

The documents which the SC allowed to be released included the SC’s revocation of Sereno’s order in 2012 to reopen a regional constitutional administrative office (RCAO) in Cebu without the collegial approval of the Court.

Another document requested is an en banc resolution creating the Needs Assessment Committee to determine the need to decentralize the functions of the Supreme Court in support of its power of administrative supervision over lower courts.

They likewise asked for Sereno’s memorandum for appointment of lawyer Solomon Lumba as her staff head and the subsequent letter of Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio withdrawing his signature in the said appointment over an internal issue.